UPDATE: 12/18/23 at 11:34 p.m. ET:
Lear died on December 5 after affected by cardiopulmonary arrest, in keeping with his demise certificates, which was obtained by TMZ on Monday, December 18. The doc additionally listed congestive coronary heart failure as an underlying explanation for demise.
Authentic story beneath:
TV legend Norman Lear — who was the brains behind quite a few ‘70s sitcoms, together with All within the Household, The Jeffersons and Maude — has died at age 101.
Us Weekly can verify that he handed at his dwelling in Los Angeles on Tuesday, December 5, of pure causes.
“Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father, and grandfather,” Lear’s household shared in an announcement. “Norman lived a life of creativity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all. Knowing and loving him has been the greatest of gifts. We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately in celebration of this remarkable human being.”
Lear’s identify is synonymous with comedy tv, which he helped mildew with topical and groundbreaking sitcoms that outlined the Nineteen Seventies and past. Because the creator of All within the Household — which garnered 55 Emmy nominations (and 22 wins) over its eight-year run — the producer modified the world of TV as viewers knew it, crafting a critically acclaimed and at instances controversial sequence that boldly confronted racism, sexism, homophobia and extra.
Within the midst of the present’s success, the WWII vet developed Maude, the primary spinoff of All within the Household. The sometimes-dark comedy — which ran for six seasons and starred Bea Arthur because the titular character — centered round Edith Bunker’s liberal cousin. Like its predecessor, the present broke obstacles when it comes to its content material, most notably with the episode wherein Maude chooses to have an abortion.
All within the Household’s second spinoff, The Jeffersons — primarily based on Archie and Edith Bunker’s neighbors — went on to change into not solely one of the vital profitable spinoff sequence of all time, but in addition one of many longest-running sitcoms in tv historical past with 11 seasons. The present was the primary to function an interracial couple.
Along with All within the Household and its offshoots, Lear — who continuously peppered his social activism into his work — continued to strike extra comedy gold on Nineteen Seventies tv, due to sitcoms like Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time and Good Instances (which in itself was a by-product of Maude).
Over the course of his decades-long profession, the tv pioneer — who celebrated his one hundredth birthday on July 27, 2022 — was the recipient of six Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe for his work on TV. In 1975, the Academy Award nominee acquired a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame. Near 10 years later, Lear turned one of many first individuals inducted into the Tv Corridor of Fame. In 1999, he was honored with the Nationwide Medal of Arts by then-President Invoice Clinton.
In 2016, on the age of 94, Lear revealed his secret to dwelling such an extended life was laughter — and many it.
“I believe my longevity has depended a great deal on the amount of laughter I’ve had in my life,” the tv producer defined on SuperSoul Sunday, reminiscing about listening to the studio viewers roar. “I could cry thinking about this … When an audience laughs together ― every seat, side by side ― they tend to come up and out of their chairs a little, and down and back up again. I mean, that’s praying, that’s gratitude, that’s enjoyment.”
Rising older didn’t appear to section him. “I think of myself as the peer of whoever I’m talking to,” he mentioned on the time. “If I was sitting here talking to a 12-year-old, I’d be 12. That’s the way I would feel.”
Lear, who was married 3 times, is survived by his six youngsters — Ellen, Kate, Maggie, Benjamin, Brianna and Madelaine — and his spouse, Lyn Davis Lear, to whom he was married since 1987.